


The Life and Times of Alice Harper

by Mercenary_bunnies



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Fish out of Water, Gen, POV First Person, Slight Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 18:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7233607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercenary_bunnies/pseuds/Mercenary_bunnies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What really goes on in the Sole Survivor's head as she battles the forces of evil, indifference, and absurdity. Ratings and relationships may change as the story continues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Life and Times of Alice Harper

Day -9999:  
What the actual fuck?! Those Vault-Tec bastards froze us! I thought the ‘decontamination pods’ looked odd, but I was just so scared after seeing the mushroom cloud that I didn’t say anything. Nobody did. I guess after running for our lives, we were only too happy to let someone else take responsibility. Woke up just in time to watch some scar-faced man steal my baby and kill Nate. Tried to act, but couldn’t get out of this…this…coffin thing. Maybe it’s just a bad dream? Can’t help but go back to sleep. Oh, Nate…when I tell him about this dream, he’ll probably tell me I was just being silly. But I know he’ll always be willing to hold me until I can stop crying. I’m so lucky to have a good man like him in a time like this. 

Day 1:  
No, it wasn’t a dream. Nate’s dead. Shaun is missing. Need to find him. I can’t possibly drag Nate out of this hole and give him a decent burial; I hope he understands. I sat there in front of his pod for…I’m not sure how long. I’d tried to convince myself that I was dreaming, and now I just feel numb. Making my way out of the Vault was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

What exactly happened here? There’s old dead bodies everywhere, and Massachusetts…is a burned-out wasteland. Found Codsworth; he told me it’s been around 210 years since the bombs fell. I just can’t believe it, but what choice do I have?

Day 2:  
I spent the day in Sanctuary, just puttering around the houses that are still intact. I never knew I had a chem dealer in the neighborhood. I wish I had known, then I wouldn’t have had to pay that skeezy bastard Duke for Nate’s Med-X. Mostly though, I was trying to build up the courage to go into my house. I failed. I just couldn’t go in there.

After the third or fourth attempt to cross the threshold of my own home, I decided to take a walk. I didn’t get very far, just to the old Red Rocket across the river. I found the most adorable German Shepard there. Is there still a Germany? I wonder. In any case, I brought the dog home with me. Codsworth huffed a little about shedding, but it seemed like he was just happy to see me doing something besides moping today. Tomorrow I’ll take the dog (what should I name him?) and check out Concord like Codsworth suggested.

Day 3:  
Today I learned that some things haven’t changed. Some people used to prey on others before the war, and now there’s Raiders doing the same thing. They have guns and tire irons instead of accountants and lawyers now, and their outfits are uglier, but that’s about it. Never killed anyone before, but they were trying to kill me, so what else could I do? I also saw my first Deathclaw. Mean fucker. I wound up sitting on the roof of what I think was Marty’s Hardware picking away at it with a pistol for hours before it died. I used to roll my eyes when Dad and Nate made me target practice, but I’m grateful for it now.

There was a group of people holed up in Concord. The leader, Preston, seems okay but needy. They needed a place to stay, so I brought them back home, since I could use some help cleaning the place up. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake. The ‘handyman’ of the bunch, Sturges, has been hammering the same nail for half an hour. I timed it. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised here; it’s been over 200 years, but nobody’s made an effort to clean up the debris anywhere.

The only way I’m going to see anything get done around here is if I do it myself.

Day 4:  
Threw together a bunkhouse and some beds for these people. Planted some stuff, so maybe they can eat. What the hell is a Tato, anyway? And can you believe I have to tell these morons to take care of their crops?  
Also, I was right about Preston. He’s already asking me to run out there and find more people to look after. How’d they make it this long, if some woman who’s been asleep for 200 years is their only hope? I really like the Minutemen’s philosophy as Preston explains it; that the only way life is going to get any better is if we all band together. I just wish the band didn’t consist of just me. It reminds me of when I was a junior lawyer at Carter & Lovecraft and all the men kept trying to treat me like the coffee girl. I don’t think a hefty dose of Redlax is going to solve this one, though.

Come to think of it, I’d kill for some coffee. Or some cigarettes that don’t taste like dust.

Day 5:  
Set out towards Diamond City. Mostly to look for clues about Shaun. Partly to get away from Preston and his band of bozos. From the descriptions of Diamond City, I’m pretty sure it’s Fenway Park. That’s a pretty long walk from here. Even longer when I have to keep stopping and fighting. At least Dogmeat’s been a big help. I’m not wild about the name, but that’s what Mama Murphy called him, and he seems to respond to it. A week ago in my time, I would have scoffed at the notion that a psychic would know a random dog’s name and he’d answer to it. Now I’m just rolling with it. What the hell’s happening to me? Next thing you know I’ll be working for some crazy cult or something.

I ran across some people at Drumlin Diner. The one inside, Trudy, was refusing to pay for chems Wolfgang had sold her son. Wolfgang said it was her son’s fault for continuing to buy them on credit, but he was a business man who needed his money. As much as I hate the idea of someone using someone’s addiction against them like that, I was in no shape to fight anybody. I managed to talk Trudy into paying off the tab, so nobody had to die. Wolfgang even gave me a machete for helping him. I gave Trudy all the money I had; it wasn’t much but I hope it helped her out.

Incidentally, why is the currency bottlecaps now? If I’d known what was going to happen, I would have saved them from the garbage can.

Day 7:  
I made it as far as Cambridge before finding someone else who needed help. At least this guy seemed like he came prepared, he’d just been overwhelmed and trying to save his subordinates. Paladin Danse. Sounds like a name out of those hokey romance novels Rose was always trying to get me to read. I’m not sure I can follow the Brotherhood of Steel’s mission. I know things were going bad before the war, but I don’t think you can blame technology for what happened. Wouldn’t it make more sense to look after people instead of a pile of laser rifles and fusion engines? I suspect they’re just trying to hoard stuff. Danse seemed nice enough, though, if a little stiff.

On another note, I’d never seen a Ghoul before. They looked just like the zombies in that horror movie that Nate dragged me to see. What was the title of that one? Danse said that they were people who weren’t people anymore because of radiation before launching into another diatribe about the abuses of technology. That seems a little unfair, but I didn’t want to argue with him until I know more. Besides, he and I are going to the old ArcJet plant tomorrow. I’m not sure cozying up to these guys is a good idea, but it would give me a better idea of how things are now, while having someone in power armor watching my back.

Day 8:  
I’m on my own out here again. I got back from ArcJet with Danse just fine. He even offered to let me into his little gang. I told him I’d think about it, but when we got back to Cambridge, Rhys called me a “trumped-up little civilian” and told me I was lucky that Danse was humoring a scavver. Bastard. I told him that that was rich coming from someone who would have died without said scavver and walked out. To his credit, Danse did follow me out to apologize, but it didn’t really help. Danse wasn’t the one who said it, and we both know he wasn’t going to do anything about it, so what’s the point?

It was getting dark by then, so I snuck into the old Fraternal Post next to the police station. I would have liked to get further away from Rhys, but it’s dangerous to be walking around in the dark. I found an old computer entry about Nate and the talk he was supposed to give there the night the world ended, as well as an American flag they were supposed to present him with. I fell asleep crying and woke up huddled around the damn flag. I’m going to keep it, even though it reminds me of all I’ve lost. I slipped out of the post and out of Cambridge without seeing those Brotherhood jerks.

Day 11:  
I’ve finally reached the outskirts of Boston. Christ, this place is a mess. I’m going to back off and stay in one of the abandoned houses nearby. I got hurt pretty badly and I need to rest up before heading into the city. I ran into a group of giant mutant things near the old CIT campus and one of them ran at me with a bomb. Turns out it was a mini nuke, and I couldn’t get far enough away before it blew up. Come to think of it, there was a cemetery a little way back; I’m going to barricade myself in one of the mausoleums and hope the threat of Ghouls keeps anybody from investigating too closely. 

Day 15:  
After some rest, I’m feeling a lot better. Nobody bothered me at the cemetery, so I’ll have to mark it on my map as a potential place to get some sleep in a pinch. I spent the majority of the day trying to find my way through the city. There’s a lot of streets that are closed off with debris, or raider camps, or more of those super mutants, as they call themselves. I found my way to Bunker Hill shortly before it got dark. It seems like an okay place, except for one dolt who claims to be with a caravan but talks about ‘trade stuff’. Pretty sure he’s never bought or sold an item for a living in his entire life. He seems friendly with Mr. Stockton, though, and Mr. Stockton drew me a map of the streets leading to Diamond City, so I guess when in Rome…

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a draft of this lurking on my computer for awhile now. I've completed and polished up the first couple of weeks worth of entries, including some tweaks to quests and some speculation on the SS's life before the bombs fell. I'd like to keep going with it, but only if people want to read it. Please leave kudos, or better yet, comments and let me know. Thanks for reading. Love you guys!


End file.
